Lack of long-term fMRI differences after multiple sports-related concussions

Abstract

Introduction: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion has been acutely associated with several cognitive symptoms, including deficits in response inhibition, working memory and motor performance. The pervasiveness of these cognitive symptoms has been more controversial. The effects of multiple concussions on neuropsychological functioning and brain activation following at least 6-months post-mTBI were examined.

Methods: Twenty right-handed male athletes with a history of at least two concussions and 20 age/pre-morbid IQ/athletic-experience matched controls underwent neuropsychological assessment and fMRI scanning where they performed versions of a colour-word Stroop interference task, an operation-span working memory task and a finger-tapping task.

Results: The Attention index score on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) was lower for the concussion group, but only at liberal statistical threshold. Total RBANS score approached statistical significance. Reaction time during neurobehavioural tasks was similar across groups, but accuracy was reduced in the concussed group on the working memory task. Despite expected activation patterns within each group, there were no group differences in neural activation on any functional tasks using either whole-brain or ROI-specific analyses at liberal statistical thresholds.

Conclusion: There were minimal differences between the two closely matched groups. Results point to the relative plasticity of younger adults’ cognitive abilities following concussion.

• FMRI
• concussion
• TBI
• mild TBI
• MTBI
• Stroop
• OSPAN
• operation span